Pumpkin Carving

Tom, Lily, Emma and Alex's pumpkins for Halloween 2015

I was pleased with the car I carved for Alex. It had to be a car for my car-obsessed little boy.

Emma wanted hearts on her pumpkin

Lily drew her design on her pumpkin and I carved it following her pencil lines. I still do all the carving as I am not yet ready to let the kids loose with sharp knives!

Tom wanted a traditional Jack O' Lantern face

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Halloween Fun

The dining room all decked out for Halloween

The Podlings all look forward to Halloween. I endeavour to keep the scary out of it and we make it a fun family day. We don't do trick or treating, so I always give the Podlings a basket of treats in the morning instead and they always look forward to coming downstairs in the morning to find the decorations up and some lovely goodies waiting for them. Mark's Mum and Dad were able to come across and spend the day with us. We carved pumpkins, baked and decorated fairy cakes, played games and had a special Halloween tea. The Podlings dressed up and we all had a really fun time.

Tom had a Cub camp this weekend, but was adamant that he wanted to spend Halloween with his family as he didn't want to miss out on the fun we have. He spent Friday night and Saturday at his Cub camp, but came home to spend the evening with us (briefly popping back to Cubs to watch the bonfire and fireworks display). We ended the day, as always with the doughnut game and a round of Ghost Hunt before packing four tired little people off to bed. 

The Podlings' Halloween treats ready for Halloween morning

Alex's Halloween gift was a sweet pumpkin romper with a matching hat and a cute chocolate lollipop.

I love these little honeycomb pumpkins. I put them everywhere!

I found an adorable vintage graphic of an owl sat on a Jack-O-Lantern (I love owls!) and used it to make a Halloween banner for the mantelpiece 

My Budding Artist

I love these pictures of Lily as they show her in her element.  Lily loves to draw and spends much of her spare time with a pen or pencil in her hand. She is developing her own style and I love her drawings. We had been doing some Halloween pictures and I just snapped a couple of photos of her. She is always happiest when creating. 

A little doodle of a witch Lily put on a Halloween picture for her friend. She was obviously pleased with it as she asked me to photograph it. I think it's really sweet.

Mark's Official Birthday

My most excellent husband celebrated his birthday on the 22nd of October. Mark couldn't be with us for his actual birthday, so we decided to give him an official birthday the following Sunday instead. Mark's parents were able to come across and join us and we celebrated with a little birthday tea.

The Podlings had a lot of fun decorating the birthday cake with some of just about every cake decoration I had in my cupboard! 

Lily wanted to make a special rainbow jelly dessert, but as I only had three colours of jelly in the cupboard it was more of a sunset jelly dessert. She made most of it on her own, with me just supervising. She made one glass for everyone at the party and topped them with whipped cream and sprinkles. She did a lovely job and they looked lovely.

Make a wish!

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Nanny and Grandad

My mum and dad came up to spend the week of Tom's birthday with us. Alex was so funny with my mum. He insisted on bringing loads of cars to her every time she sat in her chair. He piled them up on her until she could hardly move for them and then he would go off and leave her alone. The second she put them down, he would go back and bring her more! He did this every day they were with us. Funny boy!

Nanny got the cars, Grandad got the cuddles!

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Tom's 11th Birthday

Tom loves Minecraft, so it was natural that he would want a Minecraft theme to his birthday. Many of his gifts were Minecraft related and I made a Minecraft themed birthday cake, fairy cakes and banner for his special day. Both sets of grandparents were able to spend the day with him and he spent some of the afternoon out playing with his friends. We were all able to sit down together for his birthday tea thanks to our new (to us) dining room table, which extends to seat eight, although we managed to get ten around it.Tom had a really lovely day and told me that he thought it was his best birthday yet. 

The banner I made had slimes and endermites, two of Tom's favourite Minecraft creatures

Tom loved his birthday cake

I confess I was rather pleased with how Tom's cake turned out. It is nice when something turns out exactly the way you pictured it!

For those of you unfamiliar with Minecraft, the little figures on the fairy cakes are slimes. I made them from green fondant. Tom has been saving them and they are currently residing in his bedroom. 

I love having the larger table. We had rather outgrown our old one and it is so nice to all be able to sit down together at birthdays now. I don't yet have any tablecloths large enough to cover it when it is extended, but find a double duvet cover works very well! 

The birthday boy presiding over his birthday tea

The candles on Tom's cake burned with different coloured flames and were a big hit. 

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Tom is 11

Tiny baby Tom

Tom turned eleven today. Eleven!!! I have an eleven year old son! I can't believe that eleven years have passed since I sat next to that incubator wanting to get out that tiny little boy inside and give him a cuddle. Now we are busy looking at secondary schools for him and I am left wondering where all that time went. Oh, but I am so proud of the young man he is becoming! It has been a pleasure watching him growing and maturing and becoming more independent. Tom lives life in his own unique way and we are lucky to be his parents. He is such a lovely boy and we love him very much. 

Happy 11th Birthday Tom!

My very handsome 11 year old

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